"She wouldn’t do anything sporty or active at home because she feels foolish. She has a very low opinion of her ability"
 - Izzy's mother

We have partnered with the LTA Tennis Foundation to establish a pan-disability offer for young people.

This offer provides disabled young people with the opportunity to access the transformational benefits of community tennis. We have supported 12 tennis clubs, including Team Bath Tennis – a thriving club based in the Sports Training Village at the University of Bath.

Despite their enthusiasm, the club hasn’t been able to establish a disability-inclusive programme for local young people. To support the team, we have stepped in and upskilled the coaches so that they can run inclusive sessions.

Led by our Bristol-based Development Manager, this process began with in-depth disability inclusion training for all the coaches at the club. To engage local disabled young people, we then supported the club to organise an inclusive tennis festival. Through this fantastic event, the newly trained coaches were able to put into practice their new skills and recruit a group of players for regular sessions.

Two participants who have markedly benefited from this work are Max and Izzy. Max is 16 and Izzy is 15. Max is on the autistic spectrum and Izzy has DDx3x Syndrome which leads to intellectual disability and developmental delays. The duo are best friends and have been loving their weekly sessions.

Max is the youngest of four brothers and has been regularly excluded from participating in the same activities as his siblings due to the pace of the sessions. However, through Team Bath Tennis, Max has found a welcoming environment where he can be active and learn new skills. Max’s mum has even mentioned that the tennis sessions have quickly become one of the highlights of Max’s week.

Izzy has never regularly participated in sport as she found mainstream environments to be overwhelming. Izzy’s mum said,

“She wouldn’t do anything sporty or active at home because she feels foolish. She has a very low opinion of her ability”.

However, as the tennis sessions focus on socialising and having fun, Izzy has started to build up her confidence and enjoy herself. Through these sessions, Izzy has completely changed her perspective of sport and is now considering organising some work experience at the University of Bath, so that she can become a sports coach after she finishes college.